Do I offer to work for free?

I emailed a few firms in the area and got a response from HR at one of them asking for a resume. After I submitted a resume, he never responded so I followed up about a week later, and he replied saying they're not hiring off cycle interns this semester. Should I respond and tell him I'm not looking to get paid or anything, and really just want work experience? or should I email an MD/banker there instead? I don't want to seem obnoxious, but they were one of the few responses I got, so I want to follow it through

7 Comments
 

I wouldn't recommend offering your services for free - it makes you sound desperate and if a firm, especially if it's small, knows that you're working for free, will treat you differently (may give you crappy or admin admin tasks). I've had friends who've done it before and they've had ok experiences at best.

Better course of action would be to avoid going through HR. Find an MD/banker there instead and try to convince them that it's worth hiring you even if you're off-cycle (not sure why it would matter - they have work year-round and can always use interns)...Good luck

 

See if you can connect with someone through linkedin. If you find some bankers on linkedin, pick up a phone, and call them up, or e-mail them (you can guess their e-mail since you have one from HR)...

You may not mind working for free, but once you're there and you're doing crap work and you know that they can easily be paying you, you won't be happy...

 
bhartman98See if you can connect with someone through linkedin. If you find some bankers on linkedin, pick up a phone, and call them up, or e-mail them (you can guess their e-mail since you have one from HR)...

You may not mind working for free, but once you're there and you're doing crap work and you know that they can easily be paying you, you won't be happy...

Ari Gold: Of course he's not happy. Nobody's happy in this town except for the losers. Look at me, I'm miserable; that's why I'm rich.

 

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